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Recommendations: poor college kid; NAD?

I have always been into music and movies, expescially when it comes to home theatre. That should be the first thing i say: I am looking for this more for Home Theatre than pure music. That said, I was looking online for a receiver, when i ran across a Denon THX Dolby Digital, etc, etc that got my heart pumping. In the computer lab where I work (and where I was veiwing this piece of machinery), a teacher came up and was telling me about the system he has built thus far, and then recommended NAD to me as a high quality, low frills reciever. I checked out their website and found something with THX, but still that looked like an excellent receiver. What I am wondering is if you guys have any advice on a nice receiver that will support what I want to do, which is mainly watch DVDs. I would prefer if it had that "optical digital input," since from what I hear that is the best way to transport the information, but i might be wrong on that too. Any advice you guys have would be great! thanks!
nateziarek
fpeel
455 posts
 
At the risk of coming across as pretentious, you'd get better answers if you post this question in the 'Home Theater' discussion area. There's a lot of spill over, but most of the readers of this forum are hardcore two-channel types. Of course, now someone will step up and dispute that... In any case, be cautious about falling into the THX trap. While it does provide assurance that a piece of equipment can perform up to a standard, it is not a guarantee of quality. There are some very good products without that cert that are worth reviewing. Same goes for certain other 'standards'. Find out which ones are really necessary and aim for them. You might also consider starting with a nice two channel system and build from there. You'll get more bang for the buck initially.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I don't think you can go wrong with NAD. My first "real" high end amp was an NAD. I too, was a poor college kid at that time. I STILL have it 13 years later, in my 3rd system. The sound is very good, much closer to the real good stuff than it is to mass-fi garbage. And despite a couple of clowns saying it stands for Nearly Always Defective, I have NEVER had a problem with it. Go for it!
phild
603 posts
 
NAD does make good sounding stuff, but the above joke about them being defective does have some basis in truth. A friend of mine is a dealer and has plenty of units returned for repair. The Denon receivers would probably have more focus on home theater, more features, and depending on the model...they can be very well built (and also have good two-channel sound for the price). They also have decent D/A converters in their units. The NAD stuff would have a warmer sound, but I wouldn't risk the possible trouble. Yamaha and Onkyo also build decent, practical, reliable home theater/audio receivers (for the price). I suggest you try looking up consumer reviews on www.audioreview.com.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I looked at the reviews @ AudioReview.com. If there is one adjective to describe the people's feelings on NAD, it would be "glowing". I looked at many a model, and saw VERY little in the way of negativity. I saw only one person with a problem, and he routinely used to throw it in the back of his car. This is remarkable, considering the amount of products and reviews contained therein. Their regard of the products are higher than mine. As for me, I experienced NO problems in 13 years, the amp was always flawless. I used it to drive some difficult speakers REAL hard, during auditions, parties, etc. Sound was always very, very good. Check the reviews yourself. Like I said, go for it!
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